


Protective Instinct

by SaraJaye



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medical, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Party, Hugs, Keith misses his dad, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pining Shiro (Voltron), Protective Shiro (Voltron), Ugly Holiday Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21811249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: A small misunderstanding brings out Shiro's protective urges towards his latest employee and only cements what he's known deep down practically since day one.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Kudos: 85





	Protective Instinct

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the Dr. Shiro-verse of "First Impressions."

As far as Shiro's concerned, ugly Christmas sweaters are just a fad that people go along with for the fun of it. Every year Ryou sends a card of himself, Romelle, and their three dogs wearing the ugliest, tackiest sweaters they can find; some years it's obvious they decorated them themselves, others they buy them. Because there's actually a _market_ for ridiculous sweaters. Even his mother, who takes her knitting and sewing very seriously, sends Shiro a sweater, and he wears it to work to match everyone else at the clinic so they can laugh.

He's never met a single person who takes these sweaters seriously or thinks they're beautiful or heartwarming.

Until Keith.

The Gamora Clinic's new assistant shows up for the staff party in a bright red and green striped sweater with a smiling Rudolph on the front. The glitter from his nose has sloughed off onto the rest of his face, the bells around his neck are faded, one of the felt eyes is peeling off a bit, the felt of his antlers is pilling, and to top it off it's too big on Keith's shorter frame. It's far from _the_ tackiest thing Shiro's ever seen, but it's up there.

Keith's smiling as he sets down a tin of cookies on the work table.

"Merry Christmas!"

Nadia Rizavi grins, striding over to clap Keith on the shoulder.

"Congratulations, you've won the ugliest sweater contest before we could even start it!" she laughs. Keith looks confused for a moment before a shadow crosses his face; hurt clouds his eyes, and for a moment Shiro thinks he's going to run out in embarrassment. But he forces a smile and a nod, which is somehow worse.

"Yeah...yeah, the contest! Right...I almost forgot about that," he says, and the strain of feigned amusement in his voice actually breaks Shiro's heart. "Well, not everyone's here yet, so I could still lose." He nudges the tin towards the others, a few of whom look as uncomfortable as Shiro feels now.

"Keith?"

"Matt told me what these parties are like, Shiro," Keith says. "It's okay, really. A-anyway, Fala and I made like a million cookies this weekend, there's all kinds." He opens the tin. "Please, take as many as you want, the more you have the fewer leftovers I have to bring home!"

"Oh wow, these look great!" Nadia smiles. "I can tell which ones you decorated, too, you're so creative!"

"And the ones Fala's kids helped out with," Ryan Kinkade says with a smirk, holding up a lumpy snowman glopped with smeared icing and splotches of food coloring. "Not that any of us could do much better, aside from Hunk." Everyone clamors over the treats, helping themselves, and Keith just smiles as he throws himself into conversations about baking. Or stories about his niece and nephew's antics.

But Shiro can tell he's still hurt. It's Nadia's fault, of course, she's been interning at the clinic for years and every Christmas, the ugly sweaters are a novelty. Something to laugh at. Keith is new, even if Matt _had_ told him what to expect.

"Excuse me a second. I...need to talk to Keith alone about something." He tugs Keith's arm gently, and Keith gives him a confused look as Shiro leads him out into the hall. Once they're alone, that shadow of hurt comes back over his face. "Talk to me."

"It's...it's nothing. It's stupid." Keith shakes his head. "Don't make such a big deal out of this, Dr. Shirogane. I mean it." Usually when someone says that, Shiro knows that's his cue to back off. He's been on the receiving end of this many times since losing his arm, with people asking if it hurt, or if he missed flying, or if people were mean about the prosthetic. He once swore he'd never become _that_ person.

But seeing Keith look so hurt and trying to hide it does away with such common sense.

Keith's no weakling. Despite his history of anxiety and temper problems he's as strong as they come, and Shiro loves that about him. (Along with just about everything else.) And he knows Keith would be insulted at being coddled. But right now all he wants to do is sweep him into his arms and take away whatever pain he's in.

"If you're sure," he sighs. "I'll let you go back to the party, then."

"This was my dad's favorite sweater," Keith says. "He wore it every Christmas. Akira and Mom and I always made fun of it, but to us it wasn't Christmas until that sweater came out of storage. He wore it as many times as he could get away with, and the last Christmas we had together he swore he'd start sewing the eye back on..."

He trails off, fingers toying with one of the faded bells. His shoulders hitch slightly, and Shiro tentatively puts an arm around him. Keith tenses slightly, but after a moment he leans into it and relaxes. Their bodies fit so well together, Keith feels warm and just so _right_ in his embrace, and Shiro has to stem the inappropriate feelings he's grown used to battling when he's close to Keith.

"I know ugly sweater contests are a thing and people wear them as a joke. But this one's special," Keith murmurs. "After Dad died, Akira would wear it till he outgrew it, and now it fits me. I couldn't just wait till Christmas Eve to wear this one, and I didn't think there'd be an actual contest. I thought Matt was exaggerating."

Shiro holds him closer, unconsciously resting his cheek against his hair.

"I'm sorry. I know that had to be painful to bring up, I shouldn't have-"

"No. It's...it's fine, I wanted to tell you anyway. I mean, you went to the trouble of trying to make me feel better, so I figured I owed you an explanation."

"You've never owed me anything." Shiro breathes deeply, inhaling the scent of gingerbread and cinnamon still clinging to Keith. _Easy, Shirogane. He's your employee, don't start heading there._

"Just don't get mad at Nadia, okay? She didn't know," Keith says. "Or Matt, either. I mean, he _did_ tell me, I just thought he was kidding around."

"Yeah, I know." Shiro sighs. "I'm sorry for getting so...I didn't mean to treat you like some fragile china doll back there. I just...you looked so sad, and I kinda..."

"You have a brother. I'm sure you've reacted the same way anytime Ryou got his feelings hurt," Keith says with a shrug. "Akira used to do that when we were kids, too."

"Right..." Shiro swallows, his heart thudding a bit in his chest. "Good old big brother instinct, huh?" _Oh, Keith, if only you knew..._

"But I'm fine. Really." Keith smiles. "In fact, I wanna enter the contest. There's no reason I can't honor Dad by wearing this and have a little fun with it, right? Akira makes his gingerbread every year but he uses Invader Zim cookie cutters instead of the old snowman ones." Shiro chuckles, trying to imagine what frosted gingerbread Zim, Dib, and Gaz would look like. Probably scarier than their actual designs in an attempt to be "cute" and "festive."

"If you're sure, then I say go for it."

"I will."

But neither of them move. Keith leans closer, and Shiro wishes time could freeze right then and there. Keith in his arms, everyone else eating cookies or chatting away, not another person around for miles, and for once the lack of Ryou's scoldings of _bosses don't date their employees_ echoing in his head.

_If only you weren't working for me, if only we'd met some other way, if only I had the guts to-_

"Heeeey, Shiro! You guys coming back in or what?" Matt's voice cuts sharply through his reverie, and Shiro quickly lets Keith go. For a split second it looks like Keith is blushing, but maybe it's just Shiro's imagination.

"We'd better go back in before all the cookies are gone," Keith murmurs.

"Right."

They go back in, and to Shiro's relief no one asks any questions or prods at Keith. At least for now. They'll probably do their fair share during tomorrow's first coffee break-no, there's no _probably_ about it. But Keith goes over to Nadia and compliments her ridiculous sweater, while Matt's little sister grins like a little devil in Shiro's direction.

There's mistletoe hung in the corner, Shiro catches himself hoping he'll accidentally end up under it with Keith.

_Don't go there, Shirogane,_ he warns himself, but it's too late. Actually, it's _been_ too late for the past few months.

Takashi Shirogane is in love with his employee, and it's both the worst and the best thing that could ever happen to him.


End file.
